Exercise bicycles which help a person to exercise by simulating a two-wheeled vehicle are, in general, known. Such known exercise bicycles generally include a frame, a seat connected to the frame for supporting a human rider, pedals rotatably journalled to the frame for being operated by the feet of the rider, and an adjustable friction-producing device (e.g., a damping wheel or the like) coupled to the pedals for offering resistance to the efforts of the rider to rotate the pedals. The seat of such known exercise bicycles is generally fixed to the end of a supporting rod which is inserted into a vertically-oriented, hollow cylindrical tube (typically part of the frame) which has an inside diameter which is larger than the outside diameter of the supporting rod. The supporting rod is axially slided into and out of the tube to adjust the height of the seat with respect to the pedals. A clamp or similar device is used to fix the position of the supporting rod with respect to the tube once the seat is moved to a desired position.
Conventional exercise bicycles provide an inexpensive way to obtain the cardiovascular exercise that medical doctors strongly advocate as being so important to long life and good health. Unfortunately, known exercise bicycles are generally uncomfortable to sit on for extended periods of time, limiting the amount of time people wish to spend exercising to only short periods. The use of known exercise bicycles is generally a lonely and solitary experience, for it is difficult to talk with another person while exercising unless that other person walks up and stands in front of the exercise bicycle. It is therefore often rather boring to exercise using a known exercise bicycle.
Because of the importance of exercise to good health and long life, any way to make exercise more interesting and fun and thereby encourage people to exercise more often and for longer periods of time would be a welcomed innovation.